Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmatí lauds Lamine Yamal’s ‘innate’ talent

Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati has showered praise on Lamine Yamal after the youngster continues to impress everyone with his incredible talent and skills. Bonmati admitted that the Spaniard is one of the few players, who arrive at the top level once in a while.

Bonmatí, a back-to-back winner of the Ballon d’Or Féminin, was in attendance to witness the thrilling semifinal between Inter Milan and Barcelona, which the latter lost by 7-6 on aggregate. Yamal was able to impress in both semifinals despite Barca’s elimination from the UEFA Champions League.

In 32 La Liga matches, the 17-year-old has scored seven goals and provided a dozen assists for Barcelona. 

“I believe he is one of those players who comes around only once in a while, very rarely, and who has something innate,” Bonmatí told ESPN.

“He has surely worked tremendously hard, but what he does at his age on football pitches, on any football pitch, because what he did in the Inter tie, despite Barça not advancing, is quite spectacular.

“I don’t know if it has been seen before in a player of his age, but for me what he has going for him, or what it seems from the outside, is that he doesn’t think too much.

“He doesn’t overthink things, he’s not afraid, he’s not afraid of failing, he’s not afraid of disappointing, he thinks of nothing but the ball. And that is often what makes footballers great, isn’t it?

“Not overthinking things or giving in to external pressure too much, because, of course, at 17 he is already a global figure and everyone is talking about him, including everyone around him.

“It must be quite difficult to manage that, right? Maybe it’s because he handles things so naturally that it doesn’t affect him. And that is impressive, too.

“I speak from outside because it also surprises me. And the other day, at the Giuseppe Meazza [San Siro], well, it was always about giving the ball to Lamine Yamal, wasn’t it?”

Inter Milan head coach Simone Inzaghi also recently lauded Yamal, calling him a phenomenon that comes once every 50 years.